Got some 280x's still going for almost 3 years 24/7 temp 80 degrees 70% fan. Fans did stiffen up after about 2 years... I just spray some wd40 in them carefully when it happens and they are good as new again!
Ps. Wd40 is not recommended I belive machine oil is but... I've not had any problems so far... just made sure I didn't use too much so it would leak or get it on the gpu board.
Ps. Wd40 is not recommended I belive machine oil is but... I've not had any problems so far... just made sure I didn't use too much so it would leak or get it on the gpu board.
WD is not good for high temperature operation. You need some grease like those used in the bike or car.
Grease is too thick. Standard motor oil works pretty well though, and is designed to handle MUCH higher temperatures than any computer (in working condition) will ever see.
On the other hand, any fan in bad enough shape to NEED to be relubricated isn't very long for this world as a working item. Relube is an EMERGENCY SHORT TERM measure intended to get you by 'till you can REPLACE the bad fan with a good new fan.
Avoid sleeve bearing fans (this SPECIFICALLY includes stuff like "rifle" "hydro" "permalube" etc) - they do NOT live up to their claimed MTBF due to failure in the seals intended to keep the lube in, and VERY rarely last even a year in 24/7 high-temp environments.
Stick with ball bearing - which can run for YEARS with no lube at all if you keep the dust and grime out of the bearings.
This is why I generally stick with Sapphire or Gigabyte cards - they come with Ball Bearing fans across the board AFAIK.
(Might be true for some other brands, definitely NOT true for HIS).
compressor oil is better, the oil that is used in car aircon compressor, it is not as thick as motor oil. got my 280x's with 90mm high speed fans zip tied to them..those fans are lubed with compressor oil, and i sealed them with a black sticky tar/asphalt like stuff i bought at an aircon/refrigeration shop..those fans are doing really well, summer has passed and they have not given up and no oil leaks.
regarding HIS, i just bought a couple of this RX 480 IceQ X2 Roaring OC 8GB, didn't know about their fans being inferior, got samsung memory though.
THe HIS Ice-Q models with a blower are ball bearing and tend to last.
HIS has a bad habit of using sleeve bearing fans on non-blower models though from what little I've seen of them - might depend on the specific model though.
i'm thinking if the fans failed before the 2 year warranty ends, we can get the gpu replaced
,the problem with the blower type for me is the way it is designed, you cannot easily replace the fan if it failed..the non-blower design is quite easy to modify, just remove the plastic frame and you can strap a couple of 90mm PWM fans and you are good to go.the reason i used PWM fans instead of oiling the original stock sapphire 280x fan is because it is wobbling when it is failing and there are times it reaches the gpu heat sink and makes noise.
maybe we should make a new thread about making home based swamp cooling tachniques, parts/materials etc. so home based miners can add more gpus/rigs to their setup..aside from reaching max current in our homes electrical circuit we also are reaching max temperature too..i'm still researching on it and substituting parts that are not available here..i am preparing for summer.